The Bond
by JeSuisLOSER
Summary: Merlin and Arthur go on a hunting trip but what will happen when Merlin loses control of his magic which gives them a stronger bond than before?
1. Chapter 1

**Summary: Merlin and Arthur go on a hunting trip, but what will happen when Merlin loses control of his magic which gives him and Arthur a stronger bond than before?**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Merlin unfortunately.**

**A/N: Well, this is my first fanfic so I should probably have done a one-shot but I decided not to. Just to let you know, I'm a bit comma happy so I overuse them... a lot. I am working on that :P Hopefully the story is better than the summary *fingers crossed*  
>Also, this first chapter is kind of just setting up the characters and their relationship so the plot will get better in the next one or two chapters. <strong>

**Chapter One - Captured**

The cool breeze washed over the warlock's face, a small relief from the blazing sun that was threatening to burn Camelot. He was working in the courtyard cleaning Prince Arthur's armour, when the man himself stepped in front of him blocking out the sun completely and sending Merlin in to the shadows, which although he wouldn't admit, he was glad for. Merlin could tell that the prince was in a cheery mood from the way he grinned down at his manservant, observing his handy work. 'Did you want something Sire?' Merlin asked grinning back, which Arthur swiftly wiped away with his reply 'Yes Merlin, we are going hunting, so go get my stuff ready and meet me at the stables within the hour'. Merlin groaned inwardly, hating hunting enough normally, let alone when the sun was about to cook him alive.

Merlin got up, rather slowly, causing Arthur's grin to vanish and pull Merlin up by his neckerchief in impatience. Maybe he wasn't in such a good mood after all. Still grumbling Merlin made his way to the castle entrance, his workload balancing precariously within his grip, until he tripped, sending Arthurs armour flying into the air. Without thinking, Merlin threw his hand up stopping the armour in mid air, luckily no one was around and realising what he had done, shoved his arm back by his side in a panic which sent the armour back on its journey towards the ground.

Picking it back up he made his way to Arthurs chambers to get his things ready for the hunt, moaning to himself about Arthur being a 'Prat' and a 'clotpole', but the Warlock knew he couldn't stay mad at his master, because since long ago he had decided he actually liked the prat of a prince, and would even call him his best friend in Camelot.

Late as usual, Merlin entered the stables panting and out of breath from the dash he had just made from his spot in the castle chatting to Gwen to here with Arthurs stuff. Tutting, Arthur informed Merlin that he had got another 'more competent' servant to tack up the horses, to make up the time that his manservant had wasted.

'On your knees' Arthur commanded giving his manservant a mischievous grin.

Merlin looked at Arthur perplexed, and confused at this strange request. Arthur waited for several minutes obviously waiting for Merlin to catch on and looking at him as though he was half-stupid.

'Get on your knees' the prince repeated but this time with the explanation of 'so I can use you to get on my horse.'

Although Merlin had been working for the Prince for over 3 months now, this request had never been issued, and even though they were alone in the stables Merlin decided he did not want to embarrass himself.

'You're joking right?'

'No way. On your knees' Arthur replied, repeating the command for the 3rd, and judging by his tone, the final time.

Begrudgingly, Merlin knelt down beside his horse, his face glowing a bright red, feeling the embarrassment from his best friend making him do such a degrading thing. Arthur, obviously not noticing his manservant's embarrassment looked down at Merlin allowing a small smile to creep onto his face at the sight of his manservant in such a position.

The trees were getting denser, and the two friends had been riding for around four hours without any luck of a kill. This only meant two things: Arthur was very unhappy and Merlin had a very sore arse.

He had begun to daydream out of boredom when Arthur called him name.

'We aren't going to make it back to Camelot tonight, we are too far into the woods, and unfortunately I believe we are lost'

Arthur wouldn't normally have admitted this but since it was just him and Merlin he couldn't be bothered to care, he wouldn't judge him like his knights or his tyrant of a father.

Merlin agreed, nodding his head vigorously at the thought of dismounting his horse and being able to stretch his legs. They rode onwards until they came across a clearing large enough for them both to lie in and a small patch of grass where the two men tied their horses and left them to graze.

After collecting the firewood, and Merlin using his magic to light it as Arthur set up their beds, they were chatting animatedly as if there was no barrier between crowned prince and servant, no social status to keep them from being friends, when Arthur raised his hand to silence Merlin. He obviously didn't understand Arthurs signal as he continued to talk, even if he was giving the prince an 'what in hell are you doing' look. Arthur knew telling Merlin to shut up would just make him talk much more so instead he tried poking him to try and silence him a different way which just made Merlin give him an indignant look, when neither of these things worked Arthur punched him, not too softly, in the arm.

'Hey! What was that-' Merlin replied indignantly as he was unable to finish his sentence as a hand flew across him mouth and he was dragged to his feet by a large, bald man, who looked as though he was about to eat him. Merlin let out a terrified whimper as he looked over to Arthur to a deathly glare.

'You just couldn't keep your mouth sh-' this time it was Arthur who never got to finish his sentence as they both had a piece of rope shoved unceremoniously into their mouths, making Arthur scowl and the treatment and Merlin to roll his eyes, wondering how Arthur expected to be treated like a prince by these Bandits.

Their hands were tied and their eyes covered as they were pushed out of the clearing, Arthur fighting until he realised he would not be able to win. Merlin, being his clumsy self, could not walk two steps without tripping when he couldn't see, and after roughly the fifth time he had almost fallen flat on his face, the larger man behind him lifted him onto his shoulder and carried Merlin the rest of the way.

**A/N: I don't think this is any good, but you can be the judge of that (though you'll probably agree it's not). If anyone wants me to carry on the story then I will, if not then I will just give up xD The plot will mainly begin next chapter (if anyone actually wants there to be another one) so yeah Feel free to let me know how to improve. Also, after reading that I realised I change who's thoughts you get to hear and I expect I will do that throughout this Fanfic so I'm sorry about that in advance. R&R**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own Merlin**

**Chapter 2 – The interrogation**

**A/N: WOW thank you so much for all the reviews, advice and alerts I've had since I posted the first story It was really good to read them, obviously as you can see is will be continuing the story :D  
>For all the people who gave me advice on how to improve, I have tried to do what you suggested... so thank you again 3<br>**

The bags covering the two men's eyes were lifted and their gags removed; Arthur was shoved down to his knees by one tree, his hands tied behind it. Merlin was then thrown off of the second mans shoulder and tied to the same tree as the prince, ropes digging into his pale skin. "Why couldn't you just shut up when I told you to Merlin?" he hissed glaring at his manservant who just looked back with terror in his eyes.

The two larger men who had captured the prince and his servant and the other three, who had helped to wrestle Arthur where they needed him, were all deep in discussion until they turned to Arthur. "So, we caught the crown prince of Camelot" one sneered at Arthur. He pouted at being talked to in such a manner but did not argue or respond.

Merlin, in such close proximity to Arthur, had no way of using magic without being caught, and did not believe that he was ready to be burned at the stake, so did not attempt anything. Looking around, Merlin fund them to be in a much larger clearing to the one they were in before, with roughly fifty tents making up a large camp, trees skirting the edge all the way round, with Merlin and Arthur tied to the one and only tree in the middle of the camp. He soon realised they had never been to this part of the woods and that they must be in Cenrid's kingdom, and no longer in the safety of Camelot's boarders. He had come to the conclusion that there was no way out of this situation when he looked up and realised one of the bandits, a tall, fat, dark haired man, towered above him.

He then turned to Arthur "Talk or your little friend here will be punished, and don't think it's just a threat, we don't care who we hurt, you're not in the safety of your daddies Kingdom now." The prince's head snapped round at this to face his manservant who wasn't looking at anyone, his fears had been confirmed and he was just staring at the ground, his pale face getting even paler as the man talked.

"What do you want to know?" Arthur spat out with as much anger as he could muster, making sure he kept eye contact with the man he felt so much hatred for.

"Where is Emrys? I know you know him, I know of your destiny and that he is the other half of the coin"

At this statement Merlin's head shot up to stare at the bandit, who was watching the prince so intently he didn't notice, but Arthur just looked at the man genuinely confused.

After a few minutes the man moved closer to Merlin grabbing the raven hair and dragging it back to expose more of the porcelain skin, and drew out a dagger which he pressed to the man's neck. Arthurs eyes widened in panic as he saw ruby red blood stain the skin of the man next to him. In a panic he began to plead with the owner of the dagger yelling that he had no idea who this Emrys was.

Tears began to stream down Merlin's face, staining them with salty streaks as the blade dug deeper into his throat, until the pressure left and he was untied and made to stand so he was facing Arthur, fear flooding through him.

The man behind him forced his head down so he was looking straight into the prince's eyes, as if the man expected Merlin to plead with his master, but of course he did not. Merlin knew that he should not show weakness to these people as Arthur had previously taught him.

"Tell me where Emrys is, or your little friend might just get a little whipping" the man's tone was low and he almost growled out the sentence.

Now Arthur really began to panic, he was helpless and couldn't tell the man what he was asking even if he wanted to. "You cowards, if you want to hurt someone do it to me, Merlin has done nothing wrong here, Leave him." The only thing Arthur could think of doing was to redirect their attention to him and away from his friend.

At this the man let out a howling laugh, which made the princes anger mount. "Oh no, your worth a lot more money, and your little friend here looks like he would be much more fun to torture."

Arthur could do nothing but look at Merlin's limp body, resigned to his fate, just hanging in the grip of their captors. Just behind Merlin's right shoulder Arthur saw a rope being hung up by a man with a long snake like whip. Arthur gasped in horror as he realised what was about to happen to Merlin, and before he could fully process it, his manservant's jacket, neckerchief and tunic had been removed to show his pale, porcelain skin. All the prince could do was watch as his friend was dragged backwards, lifeless to where his fate would await him.

The warlocks hands pulled up above his head, ropes wrapped around his slender wrists, drawing blood as he squirmed and fought his bonds, coming back to laugh slightly as it dawned on him what they were about to do.

Merlin's toes were barely touching the floor when he froze as he was struck in the back with the whip, causing a small drop of blood to trickle down his back to the waistband of his trousers and him and Arthur let out a simultaneous whimper.

He felt his magic well up inside of him as it came rushing to the surface from his pain and anger. He tried desperately to keep it in, to control it because he knew Arthur was feet away from him. Merlin knew the prince could see everything from where he was, but as the whip came down on his back for the second time, leaving a stinging line in its wake, he lost it and his magic exploded from him. It was wild and uncontrollable.

The force of the magic shook the ground, leaving a vast crater around the tree where Merlin and Arthur were, and destroying half of the tents in the clearing. Merlin had never lost control of his magic before and this came thundering out, blasting all the men off of their feet, freeing both Merlin and Arthur from their bonds.

Only to make another bond in its place.

**A/N: Yeah, erm this chapter didn't really come out as well as planned, and I have already gone off the original plot, so let's just see where this story goes. Again feel free to tell me how to improve R&R?**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer – I don't own Merlin**

**Chapter 3 – The Bond**

**A/N: So here's where the plot really begins. Sorry if you found the last two plotless chapters boring, hopefully this will be better? **

**Again thank you to everyone who read/reviewed/alerted and everything else. I've tried to do things people have suggested, so thanks to them too.**

Merlin awoke the next morning with what felt like Gaius stroking his hair. Unless someone else was in his room it must be Gaius. He had an awful headache and couldn't remember what he had been doing the previous day. Cautiously he opened his eyes, to find himself in a tent that was not one of Camelot's. He jolted in fear as the previous day's events came flooding back to him; the hunt, the capture, the whipping... and the magic he had used in front of...

"Arthur." Merlin whimpered turning around, as quickly as his sore back would allow, finding out that it was in fact the prince who had been stroking his hair as he had woken. The prince did not look angry, Merlin thought he actually looked rather concerned and was not reacting to Merlin's magic how the manservant would have thought.

He was just about to question the prince's feelings towards him when Arthur quickly raised himself from his position behind Merlin to go and stand him front of him, like a shield against the man now standing in the doorway of the tent. Merlin could see just enough past the prince to notice they were still in the camp they had been before. Merlin let out a small groan at this, realising they were not out of danger and hoping somehow that these men were too stupid to figure out that he was Emrys.

"Move. I want 'im." the man pointed his stubby finger over to where Merlin was perched on the small bed looking over at the two wide-eyed.

"I won't let you touch him!" Arthur growled out, which earned him a nose-breaking punch. The impact caused a large crack to sound through the air, blood to pour from the Princes nose and a loud yelp of pain from Merlin. At this Arthur spun around to see what was attacking Merlin, and upon seeing nothing he turned back round to see a second man entering the tent.

"What have you done to him?" The new man in the tent was looking to Arthur with almost pity in his eyes. 'I heard screaming.' Now cradling his bruised fist, the first, obviously older man, turned to glare at Conran.

"He would not obey my commands so he needed to be punished. We were told to bring Emrys and he won't move aside."

Merlin's heart plummeted when he heard this but to his surprise Arthur had looked at him with not a surprised or angry look like he had expected but a reassuring and sympathetic look and although Merlin didn't understand this he was glad of the fact that Arthur had accepted his magic. Merlin looked around, planning their escape. Now that Arthur knew about his secret this would be much easier. He stood up and edged closer to the prince on the pretence of letting the men take him.

"I'll go with them Arthur." Merlin gave him a warning look, which the Prince did not seem to understand because as soon as Merlin had allowed these words to leave his mouth Arthur had clung to his manservant.

With Arthur being uncooperative Merlin decided that now was his chance to act, raising his hand he sent a bolt of light flying into one man's chest and before the other had time to make his leave threw a large pan, that he had seen on his earlier inspection of the tent, to knock the man out.

It was only now that Merlin remembered reading something, something that could explain Arthur's complete acceptance of Merlin's magic...

_It was one night not long after Merlin had come to Camelot. He had been in the library, looking through the few books about the old religion that the castle still kept within its walls. He was flicking through the pages of a book entitled 'Bursts of Magic' when he took interest in a particular chapter called 'Bonding':_

'_The bonding of the mind, brain and heart is one of the deepest bonds known on this Earth, and it is caused by a magical spell gone wrong. When a magical being of the old religion feels an intense urge to protect someone or someone that's destiny mixes with their own, their magic will surge to the surface, and will burst uncontrollably out of their body.  
>This will defeat the enemy (on different levels from knocking them out to killing them depending on the threat they pose) but will also create the strongest bond between the protector and the other. This creates a bond which means both share the pain, emotions and on some occasions the thoughts of the person or creature they are bonded to. Unfortunately this means that they can never be separated for too long as this will deplete the holders of the bonds energy, eventually killing them, but It can also be used to the holders advantage, making them stronger if they work together to keep hold of their original relationship and natural bond.'<em>

_Yawning widely, Merlin shut the book, and after putting it back on its shelf began to make his way back to his room, wondering how anyone could live with such a bond and dreaded to think of what it would be like to be bonded to that clotpole._

Merlin gasped, suddenly feeling rather dizzy and slightly nauseous at the thought of being bonded with Arthur, and how would he set about explaining this? The prince was staring at Merlin, slightly confused but mainly relieved that the men were no longer a danger to them.

Eventually, Merlin made up his mind and, dragging Arthur behind him, made his leave from the tent. He decided that it would be best to wait to tell the prince, not wanting to waste anymore time in the company of their captors. They crept forwards, Merlin crouching as far as his back would let him, the sun doing nothing to help his headache. He guessed it was roughly mid-day.

They were nearly at the tree line, almost free when an arrow flew between Merlin and Arthurs head and into the maze of tents they were negotiating. The prince automatically put his hand to his waist band ready to unsheathe his sword but began to panic when he realised the men must have taken it off of him when Merlin's spell knocked them all out (which although they were not in the best of situations relieved Merlin because it showed he was the same old Arthur.) Through the bond Merlin felt Arthurs fear grip hold of him too, but tried to push it aside to allow his determination to take hold of both of them.

**A/N: I'm not really sure how many chapters this is going to end up being, it depends how much time I get because I have lots of exams coming up soon, but it should just mean that my updates are slower. R&R please and thank you **


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer – I do not own Merlin**

**Chapter 4 – To find our way back**

**A/N: BTW forget anything ever happened between Gwen and Arthur because it hasn't in this**

**Also again thank you so much for the reviews and alerts and everything else, it makes me want to write sooo much more **

**This was meant to be uploaded last night but FF was being silly and wouldn't let me!**

**Anyway... on with the story...**

Merlin spun round and chased after Arthur who was swordless and running straight towards the archers. Before he could do anything, the prince had thrown himself onto one of the men, and was now punching him in the face, fists bare. Merlin was glad to see Arthur was his normal self, but as he watched; his friend was punched back in the stomach, making Merlin topple over backwards which caused several of the tents to come crashing down with a domino effect.

Scrambling clumsily back to his feet Merlin rushed over to where Arthur was fighting moments before to see the scene deserted. Panic rose in the pit of Merlin's stomach, he couldn't quite understand where the Prince had gone. Relief filed him as he realised that Arthur could not have been killed because Merlin would have felt it, but where had the Prince gone? And why had all the archers left?

Fear once again rose at the thought of Arthur being kidnapped and taken away again. It would mean Merlin had limited time to find him before his energy left him, yet at the moment he felt fine apart from the fact he was still slightly winded.

"I did well didn't I Merlin. See, they call the best fighter in Camelot for a reason you know!" Arthur grinned proudly to himself poking his head above the tent two rows away from Merlin, looking slightly dishevelled but otherwise unharmed.

Merlin sighed, relieved that Arthur was ok, and felt a smile tug at the corners of his mouth. "prat" he muttered under his breath. Merlin was going to say that Arthur killing all four men by himself was amazing, but he thought the prince's head was big enough without Merlin's help.

Suddenly realising where they were as more men began to emerge from the tents to see what all the noise was about, Arthur grabbed Merlin's wrist and began to run pulling his manservant with him. They did not stop until both were completely out of breath and completely lost.

Arthur closed the small gap between him and his manservant so he was standing next to Merlin looking out towards more trees in the direction they believed Camelot to be, until Arthur interrupted it a few minutes later "What happened when your magic knocked us all out?"

"I'm not exactly sure, but I believe it created a special bond between us which can't be broken. We need to get back to Camelot and see what Gaius says about this."

Another minute of silence followed, Arthur considering everything that had happened in the past few days, before Merlin asked "Aren't you mad at me for keeping my magic a secret from you?"

Again there was a pause while Arthur thought about his answer and how he truly felt about Merlin keeping a secret from him, he sighed and replied "No Merlin, I understand that you could not tell me because of my father, and this 'bond' or whatever it is has made me realise that you would never harm me, and that... you are more of a friend to me than anyone has ever been. I am not willing to lose that."

A sheepish grin fluttered across Merlin's face. He was glad of Arthur's acceptance and a reaction that Merlin could have only dreamt about. Lost in his own happiness, he only came back to his senses when Arthur let him go. Merlin's face shone a bright red when he realised that Arthur had just hugged him.

Although the look on Arthur's face was one of joy and wonder, his manservant could not help feeling slightly awkward at that interaction because even though he considered himself and the prince to be friends he did not expect Arthur to show his emotions so freely. Merlin decided that this was probably because of their new bond and chose to overlook this insignificant action.

After a few minutes standing side by side with Arthur beaming with happiness, they set off along the path back to the area in which they hoped their horses were still tethered. They walked in a comfortable silence, Merlin leaving Arthur to think over all that had happened in the past days, when the prince's interest got way too much for him.

"How have you been keeping this secret from everyone Merlin? You're my clumsy manservant, not a mighty sorcerer." Arthur questioned, curiosity seeping into his voice, stopping and turning to look at Merlin ready to listen.

"Well it was either that or I was burnt at the stake and to be perfectly honest I didn't really fancy that." Merlin continued to walk, Arthur bounding after him, eager to find out more. "I only use my magic when needed, normally to save your royal arse." A grin spread across Merlin's face as he remembered all the times he had saved Arthur's life. "It's my destiny to protect you and help you unite Albion, the Great Dragon told me on my first night at Camelot."

"Wait, wait, wait, The Great Dragon? The one I killed?" Arthur's eyes widened at the thought of Merlin actually talked to the dragon that had once attacked Camelot so savagely.

"Yes of course, he has helped me to save your life so many times. You should really thank him when we get back."

"Hang on, I killed that dragon months ago, you were with me you saw it!" Arthur reminded him, wondering how Merlin could not remember this.

"Oh, yeah, about that... he wasn't killed, I let him go because he promised never to attack Camelot again, I just told you that you killed him." Merlin admitted, adding "sorry" on at the end as an afterthought.

"And you just let me take the credit?" Arthur asked incredulously. "How did you control him anyway, you would have to be a dragon lord to..." He trailed off as it dawned on him that Merlin must be a dragon lord. "But that means... that means Balinor was your father? I'm so sorry"

Merlin looked to the floor, shuffling his feet. He didn't want to show Arthur the tears that had begun to well up in his eyes at the mention of his dad, but the prince must had sensed this through the bond because he stepped closer to Merlin and placed a hand on his chin, tilting his head up, smiling warmly.

Merlin wiped his eyes smiling back at Arthur, who patted Merlin on the back and they began to walk. Both the prince and his manservant feeling equally content knowing the truth, and definitely feeling fonder of each other than they did when they set out for the hunting trip.

They made their way back to their horses – who were thankfully still there – with Merlin explaining about this destiny and all of the times he had helped the prince.

They untied their horses and mounted them (thankfully Arthur did not ask Merlin to kneel for him this time) and Arthur lead the way back towards Camelot.

Since night time was fast approaching, the two men were eager to get home before the sun disappeared, not wanting to spend another night out of their beds. Arthur wasn't completely sure where he was going but had a rough idea of where Camelot was and was now quite sure that they were out of Cenrid's kingdom and back in Camelot's own.

When Merlin and Arthur were both sure they knew where they were going and that they would reach Camelot before nightfall they broke into a steady trot quickly reaching the edge of the forest, without anything bad happening (unless of course you counted Merlin's out of tune humming annoying Arthur half to death.)

They raced across the fields, entering the gates to Camelot as the sun was going down. Both men jumped off of their horses and gave them to a passing servant to settle them in their stables for the night and made their way into the castle.

Making the way to Gaius' rooms, they passed by Gwen, who Arthur stopped. "Tell my father we have arrived back safely and that I will speak with him tomorrow as I am tired and need sleep." Arthur ordered. "Oh and get me some food brought up to Gaius' rooms immediately."

"Of course sire." Gwen curtsied and scurried off, looking terrified, to carry out the princes orders, going first to the king (who was not pleased by her news and almost ended up putting her in the stocks) and then to the kitchens.

The prince and his manservant soon after arrived at Gaius room and upon knocking and getting no reply they entered to find his chambers deserted.

**A/N: Hope you liked it :D R&R?**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin **

**Chapter 5 – Who knows?**

**A/N: Well, here's chapter 5, kind of pleased that it has got this far :D.**

**Sorry, the next few chapters are a bit lighter, because in a few chapters it's going to get a little bit angsty so I don't want the whole fic to be depressing hahaha.**

**Also, someone did let me know that there is a time issue and I have tried to change it but I'm not sure why it won't save like it :/ so yeah it's meant to say 'three years' not 'three months' sorry!**

Merlin wandered round the room picking things up and inspecting them as though they would tell him where Gaius had gone. He had started to panic after about an hour of waiting up in Gaius' room with no information about where his guardian was.

Feeling Merlin's stress, Arthur had begun to pace the small room twenty minutes ago, wearing holes into the floor.

When Merlin had decided there was nothing in the room to give him a clue where his guardian had gone and nothing was about to jump up and shout at him that Gaius has gone to live somewhere else in Merlin's absence he gave up and dropped down onto the second step leading into his room.

On Arthur's way back across the room he noticed Merlin sitting down and decided to join him.

"Where do you think he has gone?"

"I don't know, picking herbs? Treating a patient?"

Arthur merely nodded in reply, they sat like that, in silence for a further fifteen minutes, both too tired to speak and they were almost asleep when the door creaked open to reveal Gaius standing at the doorway.

"Good, you're back. What happened?" Gaius asked no look of concern on his face as he walked towards where the men were sitting. "Oh and sire, I fear you may not be getting your food tonight as Gwen was caught eating some of it, I passed her in the stocks on my way back and got a bit distracted, I just couldn't resist chucking a few things at her."

Merlin looked at him incredulously, jaw hanging open at how Gaius was behaving. Apart from telling them he had just thrown things at a servant girl (who may normally be annoying, but didn't deserve that) he had just stopped in the middle of the room to stare at them, a blank expression on his face, uncaring.

"I think there is something wrong with him." Merlin informed Arthur who had now come to stand beside his manservant in front of Gaius. Both men began waving their hands wildly to try and gain some sort of response from Gaius, but were unsuccessful.

"Is he always this ignorant?"

"What? Of course not you prat, obviously something has happened to him!"

"Oh, I thought he was just being a bit stupid, you know in his old age?"

Merlin just shook his head in disbelief and muttered 'dollop head' under his breath, just loud enough for Arthur to hear and to warrant a pout from the prince.

"Well, there's not a lot we can do about this bond until we can talk properly to Gaius, we need his help, but at the moment I think he needs ours more..."

"You're magic aren't you? Can't you just you know..." Arthur gestured to Gaius with a wave of his hand "find a spell to make it better?"

Sighing at the princes lack of a brain, Merlin walked up into his room (ignoring the prince) and came back with a book.

"Is everyone just ignoring me now?" Arthur asked, coming to sit down at the work bench next to Merlin who had begun flicking through the pages of an old, tatty book.

Gaius still stood in the middle of the room, the same as before but now with a huge grin across his face, spreading from ear to ear and bearing his teeth. Merlin would have found this a hilarious sight if not for the fact that they needed him back to normal. The prince obviously didn't see the seriousness of the situation and was laughing so hard that he ended up falling off of his chair and onto the floor.

Merlin couldn't help himself, and found moments later that he had joined the prince. By the time they had stopped, and got their breath back they were exhausted.

Merlin awoke first the next day, book still open on the bench, lying where they had fallen the previous night. He peered over to see if the prince lying next to him was still asleep and seeing the steady rise and fall of his chest.

Merlin gasped, finally noticing Gaius' absence from the middle of the room and was just about to wake Arthur up to tell him when he saw him. He was crouched in a tight ball in the corner of the room, gently rocking back and forth muttering something under his breath which Merlin could not understand.

He didn't dare go up to Gaius but instead kicked the prince in the leg to wake him up, instantly regretting this decision as a searing pain rose up his thigh.

"Ouch what the bloody hell was that..." Arthur trailed off as a sharp banging filled the room.

"Who is it?" Merlin called, closing the magic book and hiding it quickly.

"The King, I have come to talk to Gaius and find Arthur." Merlin and Arthur both gasped, as the prince went to open the door to greet his father Merlin ran around the room, trying to decide what to do with Gaius. He found a blanket and threw it over Gaius just in time as Uther walked through the door.

Merlin hoped that Uther wouldn't see the now rocking bundle of cloth over in the corner as Arthur gave him a concerned look.

"Father, I'm sure you want to know what happened to me on the trip. How about I come and join you for breakfast and we can talk about it then?"

"That does sound nice. Come on then, no time to waste." Uther commanded walking to the door.

Arthur followed him obediently, giving a quick look back over his shoulder to see Merlin mouth "Meet me back here after, I'll try and find out what's wrong with Gaius."

Arthur gave a quick nod of acknowledgement before exiting the room behind his father and leaving Merlin to deal with Gaius.

Merlin searched the room for the next thirty minutes and was about to give up when he saw two bottles. One of the bottles was half full with the stopper lying next to it, a purple-blue potion inside, and next to it stood another bottle completely full with nearly the exact same coloured potion within it.

Merlin recognised the full bottle to be Gaius' medicine, because like Arthur said he was an old man. The other, Merlin had seen once before in one of Gaius' books, something about a mental illness.

He rushed over, pushing all the piles of books over until he found the one he was looking for. He riffled through the pages until he saw the potion.

_This potion gives the drinker a different mentality. Drinking too much of this could mean that the person can temporarily act differently from normal. 1/3 to half the bottle will cause them to act like a five year old for about one week. Over half the bottle will make the drinker go out of their mind for about a month. It can cause glazed eyes, ignorance, talking to themselves and playfulness. It can be cured two ways: _

_Wait for the affects to wear off_

_Make the antidote (see next page)_

"What happened here? I know you're clumsy Merlin but seriously?" Arthur looked around the room which had been turned upside down by Merlin's frantic searching.

"The good news is I have found the cure!" Merlin paused looking over to Arthur, whose expression changed smiling broadly. "The bad news is we have to make an anti-dote and it's complicated."

The smile dropped to a frown as Arthur walked over to read the book over Merlin's shoulder.

"Right, let's get on with it then."

**A/N: Ok, so this has gone off on its own little thing so I'm just going to let it R&R?**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer – I don't own Merlin **

**Chapter 6 – Help**

**A/N: Thank you for the reviews and alerts etc so far, they are loved :)**

"You're the expert Merlin, what do we do?"

"Just because I live with the court physician does not mean I know about potions and stuff idiot." Merlin grumbled staring at how the page of the open book.

_First you need a drop of the first potion (if there is none left it will need to be made up first). _

Merlin was glad that they had some left otherwise this could be much more complicated. He began to find all the ingredients needed for the anti-dote and started to make it.

"This is boring. Can you hurry up?" Arthur asked after having been sitting in silence for only ten minutes.

"Erm, I really need a special herb from the out skirts of the forest. Would you be able to go and get it for me? It's really important."

Grumbling about 'lazy manservant's who should be doing this' and that 'the crown prince should never have to do such low work' Arthur left the chambers.

He returned an hour later looking rather hot and angry.

"I could not find that stupid thing anywhere you idiot! You must have got its location wrong" Arthur frowned deeply and continued his rant. "And then I spent about twenty minutes being chased by a bloody rogue and violent squirrel! It wouldn't leave me alone."

Merlin laughed so loudly, clutching his stomach. He wiped the tears away, and shut up abruptly as Arthur growled and picked up a pot throwing it at Merlin, it hit him squarely in the back which made both men yelp in pain and Arthur to wish he hadn't have thrown it.

Now scowling at the pain in his back (made worse by the whipping) Merlin just grinned in spite of himself. "I didn't need that herb anyway, just wanted to get rid of you."

Arthur looked murderous, but decided just to leave it as he knew any pain he inflicted on Merlin would hurt him too.

"So have you nearly made it?" Arthur inquired.

"No I just can't get this stupid thing right!" Merlin held up what he had made and Arthur recoiled in disgust at the vile smell coming from it. "I think we might just have to wait for the potion to wear off."

"What in hell have you done? That smells horrible."

"Ahhh it's not that bad, you get used to that kind of smell after washing your clothes for a few years." Merlin replied, a cheeky smile across his face.

Arthur merely just huffed in responce. Merlin was about to close the book and give up for the day when he noticed a small line of writing in the corner:

_The anti-dote can be made by a creature of the old religion (must have some of the original potion for this to work)_

"So we don't have to wait?"

"No, I can do this now. Pass me the original potion." Merlin commanded grinning.

Arthur pouted at this. "Excuse me Merlin, but aren't you forgetting who exactly the prince is and who the manservant is?" He got it anyway and as he brought it back to Merlin he noticed something.

"Merlin..." His manservant hummed in reply. "I feel we are missing a major part of this."

"And what's that?" Merlin wondered looking around the room trying to see if he could spot it. Then he realised...

"Gaius!" Merlin gasped.

"You complete and utter idiot Merlin! How can you lose a mental person?" Arthur bellowed coming to stand in front of his manservant. "How on earth could you let an old man get up and leave without you noticing? He couldn't exactly have moved that fast!"

"I...I...I... "Merlin spluttered standing up. "I was concentrating and he can be very fast when he wants to be you kn -"

"Shut up Merlin!" Arthur glared down at Merlin who looked at the floor slightly embarrassed.

"You fool! We have to find him before my father notices!"

With this, Merlin and Arthur fled from the room in search of the missing physician.

Together they searched the castle from top to bottom, but did not find him anywhere. Next they tried the lower towns, but with still no luck they gave up. Making their way back through the castle towards Gaius' room they heard some strange noises coming from behind the door leading into Uther's room.

They crept towards the door (although they weren't quite sure why) and peered into the room relieved to find Gaius even if they were slightly creeped out at the sight that greeted them.

Gaius was kneeling in front of the king who was sitting on his bed giving him a foot massage like it was normal.

"How the hell do you suggest we get him out of here Merlin?"

"Why should I figure it out?"

"Because it's your fault you lost him and you're my manservant." With this Arthur shoved Merlin forward into the room, smirking at the startled look on Merlin's face as he began to stutter.

The King looked up with murder in his eyes, but Gaius just carried on humming away to himself.

"I... erm... I need to borrow Gaius please because he erm... needs to see to a patient."

"But he is busy can't you see that? Get out of my sight now!" Merlin didn't need telling twice and was out of the door faster than Uther could say 'stocks'. He did not however manage to stay out of the room for long and was soon back being dragged by the ear by Arthur.

"Sorry father but this is urgent, Gaius is needed, but feel free to take Merlin to finish Gaius' job, he would be happy to help." Merlin turned to Arthur opening and closing his mouth in a comical way, looking like a goldfish, but decided that it was best to keep quite.

"Ah yes, he will do, go on Gaius. Leave us." Normally Gaius would have removed himself from the room immediately, not today though as he just carried on unaware of everyone's eyes on him.

Arthur was surprised that Uther asked again still politely (well as polite as Uther ever was). Gaius was lucky the second time, but when he did not get off after Uther's third time asking he pushed Gaius backwards from where he was kneeling.

He fell backwards in slow motion, hitting the floor with a loud thud, which should have broken some of his bones. Instead, he picked himself up, brushed himself off and trotted out the door past Arthur, with him following, which would have made Merlin laugh if it wasn't for the fact he was left completely alone with the very impatient king, an expectant look on his face .

Merlin walked towards the front of Uther's bed and knelt down hesitantly, preparing for what he thought was one of the most disguising things he had ever done. The king's feet smelt worse than Arthur's – not that Merlin had ever been that close to Arthur's feet to smell them, he just guessed from the overload of dirty socks he had to wash – and the time past in a very awkward silence.

Cramp had begun to overtake his hands and was making it almost impossible to move until Uther obviously enjoying the treatment way too much than was normal had fallen asleep and Merlin took his chance to creep out. Merlin being Merlin did not find this easy and managed to crash into the table on his way out, luckily only making Uther grunt and turn over before Merlin rushed out of the door.

He finally made his way back to Gaius' room without meeting any more obstacles and was glad to find that Arthur – although looking very disgruntled with extremely messed up hair – had managed to struggle back to the rooms with Gaius.

**A/N: Sorry about this chapter, I got reallyyyyy stuck xD Reviews are much appreciated : D **


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7 – Someone to help **

**Disclaimer – I don't own Merlin **

**A/N: I'm really sorry this took so long, have had to revise for my exams that are way too soon :/  
>Thank you everyone who has so far reviewedalerted or added this story to their favourites, I love seeing what you thing about it, and it makes me want to write moreee :D**

"Have you given him the anti-dote yet?" Merlin asked hopefully and was surprised when Arthur nodded his head, a huge grin on his face saying 'I'm great aren't I?' and 'I'm so pleased with myself'.

"Go on then." Merlin looked at Arthur very confused.

"Go on what?" Arthur gave him an exasperated look as if he was completely stupid.

"The spell? It won't work without it... and I thought warlocks were meant to be clever." He mumbled, rolling his eyes as Merlin's mouth shaped into a comical 'O' as he realised.

A groan came from Gaius as he woke up groggily after Merlin used the spell.  
>"All better now?" Arthur asked Gaius as he got to his feet holding his head.<p>

"What ever happened to me?" Gaius blinked rapidly trying to get rid of his throbbing headache and remember what had actually happened.

"We were kind of hoping you would tell us." Merlin replied, feeling slightly disappointed that they weren't going to get a straight answer and offering Gaius a chair opposite Arthur which he took gladly.

"Well, sleep now, you might remember tomorrow morning, we need to speak to you about something that happened to us the while we were away, but it can wait till tomorrow." Gaius nodded, not completely listening. With Merlin's help he pulled himself out of the chair and over to his bed, falling asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. Merlin's eye's glowed as he used his magic to pull Gaius' covers over him and tucking him in.

He stood watching Gaius, smiling fondly at him glad to have him back until Arthur cleared his throat reminding Merlin he was still there. He rolled his eyes and turned to face the prince.

"We might as well go to bed too, nothing else to do till tomorrow, and feeling both of our emotions is making me tired!" Merlin turned on his heel and began to walk towards his bedroom when a hand grabbed his wrist.

"Merlin aren't you forgetting something?" The warlock looked at the prince quizzically, obviously missing something. Just as he was about to ask what he wanted Arthurs stomach gave a loud rumble, as if giving Merlin a hint.

He groaned. "Can't your royal prattness get your own dinner for once!" Merlin mumbled.

"This bond does not change the fact that you are my useless manservant and I want my dinner!" Arthur whined loudly, like a five year old child, pouting, stamping his feet and crossing his arms over his chest.

"Fine." Merlin called as he left the room. "Anything for a quite life." He finished as he closed the door.

Merlin re-entered the room only ten minutes later to find Gaius still snoring in his bed and Arthur nowhere to be found.

He crossed the room still balancing the tray of food on one arm, it was a miracle he hadn't dropped it yet, and shoved the door open with his foot. His suspicions were confirmed as he found the prince asleep fully clothed in his bed.

Although annoyed about taking a wasted trip, he couldn't help but notice how beautiful Arthur looked, the sun streaming in through the window as the sun set and hitting his face defining all his features and making his golden hair glow.

Merlin settled down in the chair next to the bed and began eating the food, realising he was suddenly very hungry and not wanting to waste such good food, and watched Arthur for another couple of hours.

He woke the next morning as the sun rose, light streaming through the window. He raised his head from the bed near Arthur's hand where it had obviously fallen after he became too tired. Arthur was still there, his eyes still closed, chest steadily rising and falling face turned towards Merlin.

"Let's have you lazy daisy!" Merlin half sang, stretching out like a cat and standing up at the same time. When Arthur didn't open his eyes he pulled the pillow from underneath the Princes head and wacked him round the face with it.

Arthur sprang up in a sitting position, Merlin made a mental note to do that every morning, he looked towards a beaming Merlin and couldn't help the smile that pulled at the corner of his mouth. "Is that really the way to wake your Prince?" Arthur asked in mock annoyance.

"Sorry Sire, but the pillow just slipped out of my hands." Merlin used his most innocent look, staring at the prince with puppy dog eyes through his lashes.

When they were dressed they went down into the main room to find Gaius his normal self again, with two bowls of which to Arthur looked very much like something that would come out of someone's mouth not in.

They greeted Gaius and sat down at the table to try and eat the meal, although Arthur wasn't even sure if it was edible though according to Merlin obviously disagreed as his bowl was finished before Arthur had even picked up his spoon. Heaving only a few times, Arthur managed to down his food within a few minutes.

"Gaius," Merlin looked across the table to his guardian once they had all finished eating "I thought that maybe the bond was created when my magic went a bit mad, we can feel each other's pain and I remember reading something like that before but I have no idea how we can fix it."

"I've been thinking and reading about bonds all morning, and I do agree with you. I also believe that if you got too far away from each other then you would slowly lose your energy so much that you will become unconscious."

"Yeah I read that bit too, but we can't live like that, I can't be constantly by his side."

"No and I do think that, and I do not know any sort of cure." The whole time Arthur listened intently, waiting to find out. Arthur couldn't stand the dramatic pause "what shall we do then?" He was starting to become worried now.

"Well, this bond will never be completely broken, you are too close to each other but there is one creature that may know how to deal with something like this. Merlin I assume you have told him about him?"

"I didn't think about that, we will ride out tonight to meet him, that will give me time to prepare mine and Arthurs stuff."

Arthur was growing more and more annoyed at feeling out of the loop, not having a clue who they were talking about. "Who the hell are you going on about?"

"The Great Dragon." Merlin and Gaius replied simultaneously.

Arthurs mouth open and closed a few times and managed to splutter "You cannot be serious?"

"He is our only hope, it's either that or nothing, so don't be a stubborn prince and just trust me."

All Arthur could do was nod his head in reply, he had never seen Merlin this serious and of course Arthur did trust him with all his life. After collecting some food from Gaius for their journey and packing it into a small bag they left for Arthur's room to grab his things.

"Ah Arthur, I wondered where you had got to. Would you like to join me again tonight for dinner?" They had tried to avoid Uther but had run into his on the way up the stairs towards Arthur's chambers.  
>"Erm sorry father I can't, Merlin and I have to go on patrol today, there have been more information about another group of bandits within our kingdom, and I need to check it out." He knew this lie was very feeble, but he couldn't think of anything else, he just hoped his father would accept it.<p>

"Can't it wait?"

Arthur shook his head, "Unfortunately, these are said to be quite dangerous bandits." Then realising what he had said added "But nothing I can't handle."

"That's a shame. Very well, you must do what you must do. I will see you tomorrow." Uther patted his son on the back and walked off down the stairs, leaving Arthur and Merlin sighing in relief. Continuing their way, they bumped into no one else and began to ready Arthur.

**A/N: Reviews are very much appreciated and may make the next chapter get written faster :P **


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8 – The Great Dragons Explanation**

**Disclaimer – I do not own Merlin D:**

**A/N: Okay, okay so I'm meant to be revising but I thought I'd write this instead since my updating will be very slow for about a month during my exams. **

**Thank you to everyone who reviewed and alerted etc especially to ****libBar**** because her review made my day xD So yeah Thank youuuuuu Oh and sorry about the dragon in this, he is very OOC, so hard to write!**

They reached Arthurs rooms and Merlin went straight to get Arthurs armour out and laid it on the bed. The prince went straight behind the screen over in the corner of his room and began to undress.

"Get me a bath ready." Arthur ordered and added as an afterthought "and don't make it so hot that it burns me again" At this a huge grin spread across Merlin's face which was swiftly removed by the end of Arthurs sentence "because this time you will feel it too!"

Grumbling about a spoilt prince who should do his own bath if he was going to be that fussy, Merlin went over to the door to get the water.

After coming back with the fourth bucket of water and dropping down on Arthur's bed with exhaustion Arthur got out of his chair with only a towel wrapped around his waist smirking.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Merlin asked sitting up.

"Couldn't you have just done that with magic?" Arthur let out a loud laugh as he saw Merlin's face drop.

"Couldn't _you_ have reminded me before?" He moaned, raising his hand to heat the bath water with magic this time. Arthur strode across the room sinking into his bath and closing his eyes with a low moan which made Merlin's stomach feel strange, almost like having butterflies, but he pushed it to the side, putting it down to hunger. In the bath, Arthur got the same feeling, unaware that Merlin felt the same, but also just pushed it aside.

"I prefer to see you struggle, makes my life a whole lot more interesting." Merlin moved around to the back of the bath while Arthur was speaking and took a chair behind him. He contemplated heating and cooling the water to pass the time as he sometime did when Arthur was washing, but he really didn't want to boil both him and Arthur.

They arrived down at the stables later than they had planned because Arthur insisted on getting ready like a girl, taking much longer than was normal even for Morgana.

"I am NOT kneeling for you to get on your horse again!" Merlin nudged Arthur with his elbow, half teasing, half serious. Arthur laughed at this, not planning to but now finding it a brilliant idea, nudging Merlin back obviously too harshly because Merlin being Merlin he stumbled forward, tripped over his own feet and landed on his face legs in the air. It was a comical sight, and Arthur couldn't hold back his laugh.

Holding his stomach with the pain of laughing so much he moved over to help Merlin up, who was also laughing, whether from embarrassment or the bond he wasn't really all that sure.

Pulling Merlin to his feet (and steadying him so he didn't fall over again) they made their way to the horses. After tacking up and mounting their horses, Arthur without Merlin's help this time, they trotted out of the stables and past the guards, kicking on faster as they crossed the fields.

The sun and just begun to dip down past the tips of the mountains as they entered the all too familiar clearing where Arthur had believed he had killed the dragon previously.

Dismounting at the edge of the clearing and tying their horses to the trees they wandered forward into the centre in a comfortable silence, both anxious to hear what the dragon had to say.

They stopped in the middle and both looked up towards the sky in unison. Merlin brought his hands up to his mouth and bellowed as loud as possible to call the dragon to him. They waited in anticipation for a few minutes, Arthur seemingly holding his breath, Merlin's heart beginning to sink hoping the dragon would come.

"Well this is a bit disappointing" Arthur whispered to Merlin without looking at him.

Merlin opened his mouth to retort, but over the top of the trees they saw massive wings beating down towards them. Arthur gasped slightly, causing Merlin to grin, and took a step backwards away from the creature that was now peering towards them from where it had landed gracefully right before them.

"Hello again young warlock" the dragon greeted and gave a light chuckle as he turned his head "Ah look and you've brought the Prince with you."

"I need your help!" Merlin shouted loud enough so the dragon could hear him. Arthur still stood behind him, slightly less wary now but keeping back all the same.

"I know Merlin, when do you ever come to me just for a chat? You always need my help."

"Erm... ok" Merlin responded, forgetting that he was meant to be there about the bond. "Listen," he began finally remembering, "Me and Arthur were out the other day and we were taken. I'm not sure how or why but my magic exploded from me and created some sort of bond between me and Arthur." The prince had edged forwards by now, coming to stand next to the warlock while he explained. "I can feel if he gets hurt and his emotions and stuff and I don't know how we can break-" Merlin trailed off when he realised the dragon was grinning down at him with an evil smile on his face that he didn't like.

When the dragon didn't respond, Merlin prompter him. "Help?"

"Ahhh warlock, this has always been a part of your destiny, you have just never realised." The dragon shook his head at Merlin stupidity. "Two sides of the same coin? Remember? You have always been closer than normal prince and servant; you have always had a special 'bond' as you might call it."

Arthur cut in and spoke for the first time, obviously recovering from the shock of seeing the dragon. "But normal best friends do not have this kind of bond; they can't each others emotions!"

"While that is true, you two are not normal friends, you two did not have a 'normal bond' in the first place, the magic has only increased that slightly more and pushed it deeper so that you both realise how much you need each other and that your destiny's are so intertwined that you will never be able to part properly, you share part of the others soul."

For a moment both Arthur and Merlin stoop gaping at the dragon, which made him laugh lightly to himself. Merlin recovered first. "But how do we get rid of it, it's not practical Arthur is soon to be king and we can't go more than a day without each other if we want to keep any energy."

"Help each other, live, work, breathe together. The stronger your friendship on its own the weaker the bond needs be. The magic has worked on its own to keep you two together for your destiny, you just have to prove you loyalty to one another to yourself." With that the dragon pushed off from the ground and rose into the dark night and vanished over the treetops.

Arthur cleared his throat "Erm well then, did that make much sense to you? Because it went straight over my head."

Merlin's lips curled into a smile. "Well it's the most sense he has ever made, we just have to get on." He turned and walked off towards the edge of the clearing to where they had left the horses. "I hope." He called back over his shoulder to where Arthur was still waiting. The prince caught up with him as he reached the horses. They mounted and rode off back to Camelot.

**A/N: Sorry this took so long to get done! The dragon is so hard to write, and I know I didn't do it well :/ and my revision is taking up so much of my time at the moment. Hopefully the next one won't take too long *fingers crossed* R&R please and thank you.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9 – To Get Along  
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**Disclaimer- I don't own Merlin *cries***

**A/N: Oh my goshhhhh I haven't uploaded in agessss :O Exams are just loooong so I'm very sorry to anyone who actually likes the story! Thanks for all the reviews/alerts/favourites :D Anyway, on with the story...**

Upon arriving back at the castle and dismounting their horses they headed for Gaius' room, Merlin feeling a strange sense of déjà vu.

"Arthur why are you so anxious?" Merlin inquired as they came to a halt outside the physician's door turning to face the prince as he snapped out of his train of thought.

"Huh what are you talking about Merlin? Rubbish again as usual no doubt." The hurt was obvious on Merlin's face but Arthur did not notice.

"What's wrong?" Merlin persisted, determined to find out what was wrong.

"Nothing Merlin, anyway how would you know there is anything wrong? Also, it's none of your business." Merlin just stood gaping at him for a few minutes before finding his voice.

"If you hadn't noticed, we are bonded therefore I know how you're feeling... then again I wouldn't put it past you to forget." He stomped his foot like a small child not getting his way and crossed his arms. Arthur sighed deeply.

"Look Merlin, I'm just a bit stressed out at the moment. We don't know how to get rid of this stupid bond, and I've just met a dragon... there's a lot going on." Merlin just simply nodded his acceptance of as much of an apology he would get from the stubborn Prince and pushed on the door leading into the room. Arthur followed him in yawning widely suddenly realising just how tired he was.

"Ah Merlin, you got an answer I assume?" Gaius asked raising his eyebrows in question.

"Yeah, doesn't mean I completely understand it though. He said something along the lines of 'sharing each other's souls' and something about 'proving our loyalty to one another'" Merlin concluded scrunching his face up in an attempt to try and remember exactly what the dragon had said. "It's the most sense I've ever heard from him actually, I think he means that we just have to get along and learn to trust each other, what do you think?" Merlin asked, tiredness evident in his voice.

He wandered over and sat at the workbench next to Arthur looking up at Gaius as he replied. "A very good interpretation Merlin, yes I do believe that is true and I do agree with everything you just said". Gaius turned around to prepare some antidotes to various illnesses that people in the lower town had acquired over the past few days. "So that should be easy for you then, just act like you normally do, you normally get on rather well for Arthur and his servant don't you..."

Gaius trailed off as he turned round to find both prince and manservant asleep where they sat. Arthur had evidently been the first to doze off as his head was lying on the table, arms sprawled the length of the table, Merlin's head resting against the prince's shoulder arms tangled with Arthurs.

One eyebrow rose up Gaius' forehead as he observed his ward and the future King of Camelot asleep next to each other. Tutting he turned round to his bed muttering "If only the king were to see you now..." and climbed in, not bothering to wake up either of the two sleeping men.

Merlin began to open his eyes, a bright light streamed through the window indicating the early morning. As he opened his eyes further he noticed a set of sky blue eyes peering into his own. Both men almost fell off of the bench as they jumped and yelled with fright (Arthur's yell slightly higher pitched than Merlin's though he would never admit it).

"What the hell Merlin? Why were you leaning on me?" Arthur asked in his most arrogant voice, straightening out his clothes and stretching his arms above his head.

"Erm... I don't know" Merlin half yelped, eyes wide with shock.

"Well M_er_lin you can't just fall asleep on the prince whenever you bloody well like!" He goaded.

Merlin was saved from answering with the creaking of Gaius' bed as he slowly got up. "You two have a nice sleep?" A knowing smirk spread across Gaius' face as he walked towards the two men and clapped Merlin on the back. Both stared after Gaius as he left the room, which was followed by an uncomfortable silence, which Arthur broke by telling Merlin he had to 'go do some princely stuff' and that his Manservant should 'go muck out the stables'.

After getting ready he made his way down to the stables ignoring whoever he walked past, no completely woken up from the morning and slightly confused at why exactly he had woken up with his head rested on his master's shoulder... "Merlin? Merlin are you listening to me?"  
>"Huh?" Merlin looked up to see Gwen walking next to him waving a hand in front of his face. "Oh sorry Gwen I can't speak now, the royal prat wants his horses attended to." He muttered and started to speed up.<p>

Gwen also quickened her pace and was soon half running next to Merlin, barely keeping up with his long strides. "Are you ok?" She half panted, "You seem a bit off." She continued but she was stopped mid-ramble as Merlin flung a hand up to silence her.

"I'm fine Gwen, now I really have to go." He left her there gapping as he turned the corner. He usually liked Gwen, but he just wanted to be left alone at the moment, and she just did not shut up.

Merlin arrived back to the physician's room, dirty, smelling and very dishevelled. He was exhausted and shuffled through the door, head down so he didn't notice who was sitting in the seat in front of him.

"Eurgh I swear I never mucking out that dollop head's stables ever again!" He trailed off as he noticed who sat in the chair, it wasn't Gaius. "Oh, King Uther, I'm sorry I didn't know you were here." He bent his head in a gesture of respect and began ringing his hands with nerves.

"I'm not going to even ask you what a 'dollop head' is, I don't think I want to know. But I would like to talk to you about something concerning my son." Uther did not seem too angry and Merlin nodded.

"Of course my Lord."

**A/N: My exams are nearly finished so my next update will be after them. Not much really happened in this chapter but hopefully it will next chapter :D Please R&R... I love it :P **


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10 – I didn't mean it!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin D:**

**A/N: YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS exams are doneeee :D So i'm back to writing, hopefully going to be able to upload sooo much quicker now :P Thank you for the reviews and favourites and alerts :D So here is the veryyyyy late chapter...**

"What is it that you wish to speak to me about?" Merlin was still standing where he had stopped upon noticing the king, not daring to move in case somehow Uther discovered his magic through his movement (he knew it was a stupid thought, but really couldn't control his nerves around the King)

"Well, I have noticed these past few days my son has been acting erm a little bit odd and I just wondered if you know something since you seem to be around him constantly lately?" Uther's face was deadly serious.

He didn't know why he did it, maybe because of the relief from the question being so much less serious than he was expecting, but he doubled over in a fit of giggles. When he finally composed himself enough to stand up and wipe the tears from his eyes he noticed the furious look on the now standing Uther's face. It was bright red and Merlin was sure if he looked hard enough he would have been able to see steam coming from his ears. His face was soon arranged into a very serious expression, Uther approached him slowly like a lion creeping up to its prey (which Merlin did look like at that moment, eyes wide and mouth gaping his 'sorrys')

"You dare laugh at me" Uther snarled to quietly and so close to Merlins face he had to control the urge not to step back. "AT ME!" he shouted "You may talk to my son like he is a mere commoner at a level of your own, but let me tell you that you will not walk over me like you do him." Uther pushed past Merlin storming towards the door, causing Merlin a big (inwards) sigh of relief at getting off so lightly.

"Oh and don't think you're getting away with this... make sure you're in the stocks by tomorrow sunrise" He put his hand on the door and opened it "I assume you know where they are... you seem to live there."

"Yes Sire." And with that Uther was gone. Merlin groaned at his stupidity and decided that Arthur could look after himself for one night and went straight up to his room.

The sun rose far too early for Merlin, stumbling out of his bed he decided he would again leave Arthur to fend for himself as he couldn't be bothered to get someone else to do his duties.

He pulled on his boots and jacket and crept as quietly as possible past Gaius' sleeping form. As he entered the courtyard the town was just beginning to wake up and fill mainly with servants starting their morning duties. He really did miss the quietness of Ealdor.

A guard stood by the stocks ready to lock him in place at the Kings orders. Merlin had been here many times and the guard gave him an almost apologetic look as he stepped back from the stocks and the first load of fruit was thrown at him.

The first half hour seemed to drag by as Merlin became so bored and begun to become uncomfortable in the position he was stuck. He was looking down at the time a shadow clouded the light and a pair of familiar boots came into view.

"Arthur?"Merlin asked unable to completely look up.

"Yes Merlin, I was going to let you out of here now, but seeing as you decided not to bother attending to me last night or this morning I think you can stay here for a little longer." He said simply and began to walk off.

"Arthur! Arthur, no wait please." The sound of the retreating footsteps stopped. Merlin thought that maybe Arthur had had a change of heart and suddenly begun to care until "be in my chambers as soon as you're done here." The sound of his footsteps begun again and Merlin resigned himself to the fact that he would be there even longer.

"Stupid pratty prince, thinks he is the only person in the world" Merlin mumbled and huffed under his breath.

Merlin was still fuming as he reached the Prince's room almost an hour later. He didn't speak to the Prince but just began his work cleaning the floor, completely ignoring Arthur. "Come on Merlin, speak like you normally do, I actually find your incessant babbling quite funny." It might have been the way Arthur said it or some other reason but something in Merlin snapped, he wasn't easily angered but he had just had enough.

"Shut up" Merlin said trying to keep his voice calm as he stood up from where he was scrubbing the floor to face Arthur.

"oooh what's got your knickers in a twist Merlin?" He asked pouting slightly.

"YOU. We are meant to be getting along but nooo, you're still not being nice to me, you're still only thinking about yourself, like today if you were a real friend you would have let me out." Merlin's voice was getting louder and louder by the minute.

"Oh just shut up Merlin." Arthur told him turning around "And hurry up and finish my room, I want to go to bed."

"I've had enough Arthur!" Merlin almost shouted.

"It's Sire to you if you're going to talk to me like that. Maybe you should get Gaius to teach you some manners, or maybe you're peasant mother should have brought you up to give your future king some respect. You should know your place, especially since you shouldn't even be here because of your magic." Arthur had started to raise his voice.

"You're just like your father." Merlin whispered as tears began to stream down his face, the words stinging him deeply, why so much he was not so sure. He began to run towards the door, wiping the tears away from his face. He vaguely heard Arthur shout "Oh come on Merlin, you know I didn't mean it!" but he just carried on going, also ignoring the concerned stares and whispered worries.

He kept running until he ended up back at Gaius' room and went straight to his room to pack his few belongings.

He wanted to leave without having to explain to Gaius so he quickly scribbled a note and began a speedy walk down to the stables, still ignoring everyone and everything. He couldn't say why he was so mad at Arthur for what he said, maybe the pressure on their relationship from the bond had just been building without him noticing, or the bond was making him more emotional than he normally was, but he knew that he had to get away from Camelot, away from Arthur.

**A/N: R&R? Please and thank youuu :) **


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11- Go after him!**

**Disclaimer – Don't own Merlin blah blah blah...**

**A/N: Thank you everyone again who took the time to review, alert or favourite this story, it means a lot :D**

Merlin rode his horse in the only direction he knew he could find any comfort. His mind was still whirling from his fight with Arthur.

"Why did I leave?" He asked to no one in particular. "I could have stayed; we could have worked it out!" His horse chucked its head about as if in agreement with Merlin's stupidity. "But I can't go back now, that would be like letting him win, and plus he was very out of order with what he said. Come on." He nudged his horse in the side to get it into a collected trot, hoping to reach Ealdor by nightfall.

He entered the small village just as the sun was setting and rode straight over to his old home. He knocked on the door twice and was greeted by him beaming mum. Her smile faltered as she saw who was at her door; of course she was amazingly pleased to see her son after such a long time but knew that he must be here because something bad had happened.

She ushered him inside and sat him down at the table only then noticing the tear streaks that ran over his cheekbones and down his face.

Arthur had begun to feel drowsy over the last few hours and had developed a headache, but was determined to sort this mess with Merlin out. He made his way slowly to Gaius' room, but as he entered he saw no one was there. As his head was spinning he decided to take a seat next to Gaius' workbench, wishing Gaius would hurry up before the banging in his head got any worse. About five minutes after taking a seat and a considerable amount of pain in his head later he noticed a small scribbled note next to his left hand.

He picked it up out of curiosity and read 'Gaius, had to leave quickly visiting my mother, not sure when or if I will come back. Thank you for everything, Merlin'.

He put down the note, trying to process the fact that Merlin had left because of HIM, when Gaius came through the door. He jumped up, rushing over to him as quickly as his dizzy, pounding head would allow.

"He's gone Gaius! He's gone, he has left and it's my entire fault! WHAT SHOULD I DO?" He shouted at Gaius, slightly shaking the old man in his desperation.

"Calm down! Explain slowly, and stop shaking me I'm old and might just break!" Gaius walked over to look at the note left on the desk as Arthur muttered his 'sorrys'.

"What did you say to make him angry enough to leave?" Gaius queried.

"Well we started off with our normal banter and I don't know, it turned into a row, I said things I instantly regretted but couldn't stop him before he ran off!" Arthur said almost hysterically. "What do I do?"

"Isn't that obvious?" Gaius asked slightly exasperated. When Arthur looked at him with a puzzled expression (the Prince was obviously more stupid than he'd realised) he added "Go after him!"

"Oh right, yes, of course. Gaius, what about if he doesn't want to come back, what about if he never wants to talk to me again?" Arthur asked, bowing his head.

"That will never happen Sire, he cares too deeply for you, you must see that!" Gaius soothed looking up at Arthur as he raised his head. He noticed a single tear fall from those blue eyes that normally held so much strength and determination.

"Right, if you are sure. Thanks Gaius" The prince nodded his head in appreciation. Seeing the prince in such a broken state made Gaius not only worried himself, but also gave him hope that the young prince would not follow in his father's cold hearted footsteps.

Arthur turned to leave put a sudden shooting pain made him cry out and hold his head and clutch at his chest in agony. He dropped to his knees, screwing his face up and biting his lip in an attempt not to let the pain through.

Gaius rushed to his side. "Sire, what's wrong?"

"I really don't know" Arthur grunted through his gritted teeth. "It started a couple of hours ago, maybe one or two hours after Merlin left my chambers." Both were silent for a moment (well unless you count Arthurs occasional whimpering and grunting) until something seemed to dawn on both of them... (Admittedly, it dawned on Gaius a bit before Arthur's tiny mind caught up)

"The bond?" Gaius thought out loud.

"Do you think so? What does this mean? Merlin is injured or something? Am I feeling his pain? I must go and help him, quick!" Arthur rambled, not stopping to take a breath.

"No, no stop! I believe I have read about this sort of 'illness' before in a section about the bond you and Merlin share. If you get too far away from each other, the bond can cause each man's health to deteriorate rapidly; this prevents you from leaving each other before the bond is broken!" Gaius paused to think, and Arthur let out another cry of pain. "I think the best thing to do now would be to give you some pain killers and let you go and find Merlin. The sooner you find him the better. If I try and treat this, which is probably impossible anyway, you will just get worse." He pulled a jar from the cabinet next to him and shoved it into Arthur's hand. "Drink all of this and then go, straight away. Don't worry about Uther, I will deal with him for you."

"Thank you Gaius." With that (and the downing of the medicine) he was gone, feet thundering down the castle corridors hoping and praying that no one would notice him.

By the time he had reached the stables and saddled his horse up, the sun had sunk low beyond the tree line so darkness (and pain) was approaching faster and faster by the minute.

"I am sorry, but Arthur had to dash off, it seems that a magical creature has been attacking towns inside of Camelot and the beasts hiding place has been found, he will be gone for a few days though as he is going round to check the villages after killing the beast." Gaius was stood in front of the king in his thrown.

"Very well Gaius, thank you for informing me." With a nod of his head Gaius began to walk back down the hall, arms folded behind him, hoping that Arthur would get to Merlin before it was too late for either of them.

**A/N: I hope that wasn't too angsty! R&R pretty please :D Thank youuu**


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12 – Meaning more than I can say.**

**Disclaimer – I don't own Merlin... I wish I did D:**

**A/N: See the chapters are getting done quicker now :D Still not sure how long this story is going to be... I guess as long as people want it I will carry on : ) As always thank you for all your lovely reviews and thanks for adding it to your favourites/alerting this story :D**

"So Merlin, are you going to tell me what's wrong or am I going to have to guess?" Hunith asked concerned, standing behind her son. She moved round the table to sit opposite her son, a steaming drink in both hands.

"It's Arthur... and my magic..." His sentences were broken as he held back the tears that were again threatening to burst from his eyes.

"Oh he found out and banished you? I'm sure he will come round, please don't get too-" She was stopped mid-ramble as Merlin cut across her worried rambling.

"No, no it's not that. Well Arthur did find out about my magic, but he didn't banish me. He actually accepted it." Merlin stopped here looking down. The thought of having to retell the whole story slightly over whelming him.

A relieved smile spread across Hunith's face. "Oh that's great news, why are you so upset then?"

"Well..." Merlin took a huge breath and told his mum everything, how they had been taken, attacked then Merlin's magic had gone mad, created a bond. He told her how Arthur had accepted his magic, they had gone back to the castle, spoken to the Great Dragon. That they knew they just had to get along and then how they had argued and Merlin had run off like a coward. At this point in the story he broke down again, sobbing into his mother's shoulder as she had rushed to his side. She was a great listener, nodding and asking the right questions in the right places.

When Merlin had finally calmed down enough he turned to his mother. "Thank you, I know I have been stupid, but I really can't go back now, not yet. You don't mind if I stay here do you?"

"Don't be silly! You're my boy of course you can stay as long as you'd like! Now, you must be tired, your bed is made up, go on." Hunith smiled warmly at her son as he thanked her again and headed to his room.

Merlin had a slight headache, so was thankful that his mum let him go straight to sleep. He would sleep it off and then do some thinking about his situation tomorrow.

Gaius headed toward the library; he walked in and headed straight over to the section named 'Magic' which many people dared never to go to. Pulling a thick, dust covered book from the shelf called 'Bursts of magic', one he remembered Merlin mentioning when he had come back from the trip that bonded them, and walked over to sit in a secluded corner as to have as much privacy as possible.

He opened the old withered looking book, removing the cobwebs from the front cover, and read the section entitled Bond Separation.

'_If those who have been bonded by the strongest type of magic were ever to part from each other for a significant amount of time (depending on the strength of magic/bond in question) both involved will start to lose energy and will become very ill and therefore unable to do normal things, this can lead to a coma which will eventually end in death of both unless reunited._

_A strong sorcerer or creature of the old religion can create a magical bond so strong that being a certain distance apart can lead to deteriorated health within a couple of hours. Symptoms start of as; headaches, fevers, dizziness, a strong amount of feelings and loss of energy, as the distance or time of them being apart increases further symptoms such as; fainting, coma's, depression, self harm or eventually death can occur if not reunited in time.'_

It was just as Gaius had feared. Merlin and Arthur were both in danger and Arthur was alone, what about if the young prince went into a coma while riding before he reached Merlin? Nobody would know. Gaius just hoped Arthur had enough strength to make it all the way there, he believed in him... but there was still that bit of doubt.

Arthur was taking the familiar path her had ridden along once before, it reminded him of the good times, Merlin and Arthur were just beginning to get close, friends for the first time. Merlin was Arthur's first real friend, not there for his money or power, but stuck by him through pure friendship.

His head was getting worse and worse, and it was steadily starting to make him feel nauseous. He needed to be reunited with Merlin, not just for his health but for the emotional side of it all, he was beginning to feel lonely. He knew that this was stupid for a Prince, he shouldn't rely on a friendship with his servant, but he couldn't help it.

A noise to his left made him spin round. As he couldn't hear anything else he dipped back into his thoughts and carried on with his journey.

A scream came from behind, and as he spun in his saddle he saw two men charging out of the bushes. "Great just what I need." He muttered, jumping from his horse and drawing his sword. He had no armour because he had to time to get it and he was slightly wobbly on his feet from the increasing dizziness. Normally he could have taken them down easily without even a second thought, but being ill made his reactions much slower and his co-ordination much worse, plus the fact that it was now dark did not help in the slightest.

He clashed swords with the first man, kicking the other in the stomach and hitting him round the back of the head with the hilt of his sword knocking him unconscious. While occupied with the second man the first swung his sword towards the Prince, he noticed just in time, moving out of the way so the sword didn't chop his head off (though at least that would have stopped the pain.) Unfortunately his slow reaction meant the man cut his arm. "Ah you bastard!" The prince shouted. The last swing the man had made left him open, so as Arthur spun round he jabbed his sword into the man's stomach and kicked him to the floor.

Staggering slightly Arthur remounted his horse, his head was now in more pain and his arm was gushing with blood, he was in danger of passing out and knew he had to get to Merlin soon. That distraction had wasted valuable time, he was luckily only roughly an hour away from Merlin's village, so kicked his horse into a trot just as he blacked out.

**A/N: 3****rd**** chapter uploaded within 3 days... I'm getting better xD R&R? Much appreciated : ) Thanks **


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13 – Coming around.**

**Disclaimer- I don't own Merlin : (**

**A/N: Thanks again for reviews/alerts/favourites! I'm on a role with writing these chapters at the moment :D **

**Oh and I was wondering if people would prefer it to become merthur in the last chapter, the rating would stay the same, but I just wondered if people would rather they just stay friends or become Merthur. I don't mind tbh, so it's up to you lot : ) **

Hunith walked into Merlin's room early in the morning to get him up for the day. When she entered the room however Merlin wouldn't wake straight away and when he did he had a massive headache and a very bad fever.

Hunith left Merlin in bed for the day, and she was growing more and more anxious by the hour, worried about the bad state her son had suddenly found himself in.

Merlin only woke up in the early hours of the morning, and since he couldn't get back to sleep he decided to stay awake and decide what he should do about Arthur. Gradually, he began to feel better and within an hour of waking he was almost completely fine.

He had gone to wake his mother to tell her how much better he felt when he heard a horse's hooves thudding along the floor outside and coming to a stop outside their house. Both Hunith and Merlin opened the door as the sound of a neighing horse reverberated through the small house.

Arthur blinked twice, everything slightly blurry, the morning sun pouring in through a small window. The bed beneath him definitely was not his, it was hard and lumpy and certainly not as big as he was used to. His head wasn't thumping as it had done before, but still had a dull ache to it.

"Merlin!" Arthur shouted. He sat bolt upright when he remembered what he had been doing when he had passed out. Footsteps could be heard on the other side of the door, worried whispers, a woman's voice. He thought he recognized the voice but just could not put his finger on where and from whom he'd heard it.

As Arthur looked round he saw a very bare room, no lavish decorations or fancy bed covers, getting up he made his way to the window and peered outside. "No, it can't be." He rushed into the room connecting to the one he was in, where he had heard the voices.

"Hunith? Merlin? How did I get here? Last thing I remember is fighting some men in the woods and then getting back onto my horse and and then nothing!" Arthur stumbled over his words as he approached the table.

"Yes well, it seems your horse managed to find its own way here, he's out in one of the fields at the moment, he brought you right to our door. Merlin was so panicky, thought you were dead on something." Hunith laughed causing Merlin to go bright red from his well sculpted cheeks to his over large ears.

Arthur's cheeks also gained a small red tint (though he'd never admit it, too princely to ever get embarrassed) "Yes well erm thank you very much for taking me in and helping me out. Would it be ok to talk to Merlin alone please?" He addressed Hunith with the most respect in his voice that he could muster.

"Yes of course, though you're probably best going for a walk after breakfast to talk as these walls are paper thin and I will be able to hear every word you say. But for now sit down." She beckoned for him to come and sit in front of a bowl of steaming food (in Arthurs opinion it looked like something he wouldn't even feed Morgana) but he graciously accepted it and ate half the bowl. The whole time Arthur tried to catch Merlin's eye but he was determinedly looking forward straight into the wall, he didn't speak a word the whole time. Arthur guessed he was still angry at him (Arthur was obviously a genius.)

When breakfast was done both Merlin and Arthur rose from the table and stepped outside of the small house into the village (Merlin obviously much more reluctant to be alone with Arthur, but then again the Prince rarely felt shame)

They walked for a few minutes in silence Arthur half-a-step ahead of Merlin until they came to a slow flowing, deep river.

Arthur spun on his heel facing Merlin. Merlin being Merlin didn't notice and bumped head on into Arthur.

"Sorry." Merlin grumbled but Arthur just laughed which made the manservant even angrier. He stormed off away from Arthur and by the time the Prince had realised he was far enough away to have to jog to catch up.

"Hey, wait. Look, I didn't mean to laugh, it's just you're Merlin, that's what you do and I've missed that since this bond was created." He hung his head and sighed deeply.

"It's not that." Merlin replied, his tone slightly sharper and icier than normal.

"I'm... sorry for what I said to you yesterday, it was only meant to be a bit of our usual 'fighting' and it just got out of hand! You know I don't think those things I said, to be honest I like you answering back, that you don't respect me and that you treat me the same as you would anyone else. You're my..." Arthur trailed off and looked up into Merlin's bright blue eyes and clapped a hand onto his shoulder "You're my best friend, the only friend I've had and I don't want to lose that because of the stupid things I said."

When Arthur had finished his confessions it was Merlin's turn to laugh, it was also Arthurs turn to get angry. "Sorry, but I've never heard you apologise to anyone before! Just... It just made me laugh!" Merlin stood up and wiped the tears from his eyes, and Arthur forgot that he was being angry and a smile crept onto his face.

He shoved Merlin hard in his shoulder and Merlin did the same back. The prince obviously forgetting his strength and Merlin's clumsiness pushed Merlin so hard be stumbled slightly, tripped over a rock and landed in the river head first.

Arthur fell onto his knees by the side laughing hysterically until he felt a sharp pain to the right of his forehead. Confused, Arthur looked forward into the river to ask Merlin what he thought it could have been, but just saw the water begin to still. The prince looked up and down the river but couldn't see Merlin anywhere and began to panic.

**A/N: Sorry about the OOC-ness. Review? : ) **


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14 – Thanks a lot.**

**Disclaimer – Don't own Merlin if you hadn't already guessed by now :/**

**A/N: I'm sorry to those who want Methur, but some people didn't like the idea so i've decided to go with just a friendship at the moment (but my next fic will be merthur :D) So sorry to those who wanted Merthur!**

**Also, sorry about the slow update, this week has been soo busy.**

**And, this fic might be at its end in a few chapters, but there might be a sequel sometime in the future if anyone wants one : )**

Arthur was in such a state of worry now he didn't know what to do. Suddenly, he realised where Merlin must have gone, he hit himself on the head with his palm at his stupidity (then regretted it because it bloody hurt.)

Stripping out of his jacket and tunic and pulling off his boots he took a head breath and jumped into the river. Opening his eyes underwater he swam as far down as he could until he reached the bottom kicking his legs powerfully.

At first he couldn't see Merlin anywhere and began to get stressed, he was running out of air and quickly so pushed up to the surface. He took another deep breath and dived down again, this time spotting Merlin slightly to the right of the river (He squealed like a girl from joy but of course was too 'manly' to admit that.)

The prince grabbed his manservant under the arms and dragged his up to the surface and over to the river bank. Thankfully Merlin was light enough for Arthur to basically throw onto the side while he clambered out afterwards.

"Oh crap I've killed him" Arthur muttered when he couldn't see Merlin's chest rise and fall. He crawled round to sit behind Merlin and pulled his top half onto his lap, not caring what others thought or if it was a princely thing to do, he just needed to be close to his friend. A tear rolled down Arthur's face (although he swore it was only a water drop) and held Merlin tightly to his chest.

" You supercilious fat lazy daisy dollop headed bumpkin clot poled prat! You could have killed me!" Merlin spluttered out.

Arthur let out a shaky sigh of relief and a small laugh. "Firstly, don't speak to me like that" Merlin could tell he was only joking. "And secondly, you could have died Merlin! I mean how skinny are you? The wind could blow you away if it tried hard enough."

"Don't blame this on me you shouldn't have pushed me so hard!" Merlin replied laughing. He sat up and clutched at his head, when he pulled his fingers down to his eyes he saw crimson blood.

"So that's why my head hurt!" Arthur exclaimed

"Erm, just incase you hadn't noticed... this is my blood and I'm the one who hit my head not you." Merlin stated, a puzzled look crossing his features.

"Yes, of course I know that Merlin, what do you think I am? Stupid?"

"Well yeah" Merlin responded causing his to get a swift playful punch to his shoulder.

"Shut up; when you hit your head I obviously felt it through the bond!" Arthur grinned showing just how proud of his 'amazing intellectual ability' he was (as Arthur put it.)

Merlin sighed at Arthur's love of himself and stood up, a pain shooting so sharply through his head he almost fell over but Arthur was right there behind him to catch him when Merlin most needed him. That's when he realised that he needed Arthur just as much as Arthur needed him... it was their destiny.

Supporting Merlin they made their way back to Hunith's house and upon entering they found Hunith sitting at the table tapping her fingers obviously anticipating their return. When she heard the door bang shut she jumped up and rushed over, the smile fading from her face as she saw he was soaking wet and blood was coming from his pale forehead.

"It's alright mum, stop fussing it's just a bit of blood!" Merlin tried to knock her hands away as he made his way over to the table.

"He fell..." Arthur started.

"You mean you pushed me." Merlin interrupted.

"Well, we were mucking around and I pushed him a bit too hard so he tripped and fell into the river and banged his head at the bottom, which caused the cut." Arthur explained as Hunith wiped the blood from her son's head.

"And Arthur jumped in to save me." Merlin finished. Hunith stopped trying to get rid of the blood and ran over to hug Arthur who patted her on the back awkwardly.

"Thank you! So have you two kissed and made up?" Hunith asked.

"MUM!" Merlin almost shouted.

"Oh I didn't mean it like that, so are you going back with Arthur? Sorry Prince Arthur." Hunith turned back to her son.

"That's ok Hunith, Arthur is fine." Arthur commented with a smile. "Merlin is way more than welcome to come back with me, I really hope he will." He added.

"Ermm, yes ok I think I need to come back, I didn't even say good bye to Gaius properly, but do you mind if we stay for today and leave tomorrow?" Merlin asked.

"Of course if that's ok with you, Hunith?" Arthur turned to see a beaming Hunith staring at him.

"Yes yes, I'd like nothing better!" Hunith walked over to Arthur and brought him to the table.

"Well then that's settled. May I just ask why you want to stay longer?" Arthur asked doing a good impression of Gaius, one eyebrow raised half way up his forehead.

"Well I've seen where you grew up, I'd love to show you where I grew up and show you around." Merlin smiled at Arthur who returned it with such honest.

"Oh that's a wonderful idea Merlin! But have some lunch before you do anything, you need your energy!" Hunith fussed moving over to the kitchen.

Merlin simply rolled his eyes making Arthur laugh.

**A/N: Sorry this took so long D: Review? **


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15 – Home sweet Home.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin, you've probably guessed by now xD**

**A/N: Okay, so I know it has been like yearsss since I uploaded this and nobody probably wants to read it, but I thought I should finish it a) because I hate it when fics don't get finished and b) I promised 1MERLIN_FAN that I would, so this chapters for her : ).**

**This chapter hardly has any dialogue in it so sorry about that :/**

The soft moon light had hit the side of Merlin's face through the window by the time him and Arthur had managed to escape from Hunith's ongoing babble (Arthur noted it must run in the family). They made Arthur feel comfortable, like he had never been before with his own family, had him coming out of his shell, being himself in a way he couldn't around Uther. Laughing and actually meaning it, not for show as he normally did in Camelot, Hunith and Merlin made him feel as though he was finally home and belonged here even though he had lived in Camelot his whole life.

They left the small cottage as Hunith slept to wander through the village. It was a type of quite Arthur had never experience in his life, there was always someone up, someone shouting, someone guarding in Camelot and although, on the rare occasion, it was silent there was still a tension that lingered in the air as the castle was forever ready for a battle. Arthur left his daydream to realise Merlin had left him behind slightly and sped up slightly to fall into step with his manservant. His friend, his best friend. He sighed, and it was filled with so much content it startled him slightly.

Arthur only noticed he had fallen back into his daydream when he was abruptly pulled out of it as he fell forwards, toppling flat on his face but not before he managed to grab hold of his skinny friends wrist and drag him down with him.

"MERLIN" Arthur bellowed as he shot up off of the floor to chase Merlin down the hill and away from the small village.

Arthur underestimated Merlin and it took him much longer to catch up with his manservant than he had anticipated. Merlin's long, gangly legs meant he could cover a larger distance with less effort although this was no match for Arthurs training He took a second to congratulate himself on this which caused him to lose Merlin again and consequently trip head over heels over one of those gangly legs that stuck out from behind a tree.

For the second time this evening Arthur found himself lying face down in the mud. Rolling onto his back both men began howling with laughter as though their relationship was not that of Prince and manservant (Arthur deciding to stay on the floor as he didn't trust his legs to hold him up from laughing so hard, and didn't fancy ending up on his face for the third time that evening)

"Ok, so maybe I deserved that." Arthur gasped between laughs, eventually getting to his feet and clasping Merlin on the shoulder.

Merlin wiped a rivulet of tears from his cheeks as he looked to Arthur. "You have mud on your face" Merlin pointed out turning around and swaying his hips exaggeratedly as he pranced off away from Arthur "Meeerlin, do you want to find yourself back in that river?" Arthur then pouted like a spoilt brat and stuck his tongue out behind Merlin's back. Arthur jogged up behind Merlin who had sat down by the river they had run past with his shoes and socks off, dipping his feet gently into the river, watching the ripples that they caused as he swirled them round in circles.

Arthur copied his lead, sitting down next to Merlin, arms casually touching. They chatted late into the night about everything and nothing, finally returning to Hunith's house only when their eyes began to drift closed and they couldn't control it any longer, the fact that they were freezing to death even after huddling together playing a major part. Arthur and Merlin pushed their mattresses together to keep warm when they returned.

"Night, Merlin."

"Night... Dollophead"

"Still your prince... still can't talk to me like that."

"Alright." Merlin sighed "Night... clotpole."

Arthur couldn't help the grin that spread across his face; he turned his head towards Merlin and noticed he'd already drifted off to sleep. "Night idiot" He murmured fondly before drifting into a peaceful sleep, dreams filled with him and Merlin staying in Ealdor and never returning to Camelot.

Arthur opened his eyes, bleary with sleep, and shifted so that the hand that had moved in the night to rest on Merlin's chest slipped off, waking Merlin as the weight left his front. Hunith was already up and cooking breakfast for the two boys, greeting them cheerily as she bustled round the tiny kitchen. Arthur chuckled fondly at Merlin when he looked at his spikes of hair poking in all directions.

"Let's have you lazy daisy!" Arthur all but shouted at Merlin with a huge grin plastered on his face, repeating one of Merlin's favourite wake up calls.

Merlin only groaned in return.

After breakfast both Merlin and Arthur saddled up their horses and said their (somewhat teary) goodbyes to a sobbing Hunith, promising they would both return soon to stay with her again.

_**5 days later...**_

"So you think that's it Gaius? The bond was broken as Arthur saved me?" Merlin asked quite excitedly.

"Yes, I do Merlin. It showed that Arthur truly cared for you and was willing to do something out of his way to help you and that, although the gesture not of the largest form, brought out Arthurs true feelings for you. He felt a deep fear when he thought you were dying, and I do not believe that was due to the bond. He has come to respect you Merlin, remember that." Gaius finished off his sentence.

Merlin nodded enthusiastically, feeling pleased with himself just as he heard a loud bang behind him.

"Merlinnnn" The deep growl came from behind him, making Merlin shiver as he felt it go through him. He would know that voice anywhere.

"Coming, _sire" _Merlin said degrading the word of its status and rolling his eyes to Gaius.

"Take your time Merlin, we have all day..." Arthur said in his most sarcastic tone.

Both men knew the other was only joking and Merlin got to his feet with a grin on his face which he trained into a grimace as he turned to face Arthur, walking to Arthur's side, taking his place where he belonged.

**Finished : )**


End file.
